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In December 1967, shortly after turning 27 years old, I volunteered to serve in South Vietnam. The country was at war and I wanted to take part. Young soldiers returning from Vietnam wearing patches, metals badges and ribbons on their uniform manifested the prestige of their status as combat veterans. As an upper level . . . → Read More: Vietnam: Tasking Convoy Escorts

George Wallace is dead and like many Americans, I am saddened by his departure. George Corley Wallace touched the lives of nearly every American. Governor Wallace touched my life in a rather profound way: he was family. I grew up in Bullock County, Alabama. Our oral family history recognized that George Wallace’s . . . → Read More: Wallace Wounded this Cousin, but Change Helped Him Heal

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In a recent column [~1997], George Will of the Washington Post, makes a thoughtful contribution to the national dialogue on race.

In that column, Mr. Will calls for the elimination of race classifications in the government census. Regular readers know that is a position I have long advocated. I welcome Mr. Will to my . . . → Read More: Stop Asking About Race in Census

Alabama is the last state to have a constitutional ban of interracial marriage. While no longer enforceable due to its conflict with US Law, many Alabamians want the archaic language removed from the state’s constitution. Major Cox has written on this and related topics on numerous occasions. He and Margaret, his wife, have appeared on television . . . → Read More: Interracial Marriage

Lawyers, partners, husband and wife, Alison and Henry Penick smile at each other in their Birmingham law office recently. The couple are technically violating Alabama’s state Constitution, which forbids interracial marriage. The US Supreme Court nullified such laws more than 30 years ago, but some believe the law should be removed to demonstrate Alabama’s progress . . . → Read More: Voters to Decide Future of Interracial Marriage Ban, Alabama Last State to have Law on Books

American opinion is divided over the way the Air Force handled the case of 1stLt Kelly Flinn. Lt Flinn, an Air Force B-52 bomber pilot, resigned under pressure from the Secretary of the Air Force with less than an honorable discharge because she had an adulterous relationship.

In a July 28, 1997 letter to Montgomery County District Attorney Ellen Brooks, Malinda Edwards made her plea for long delayed justice. Writing on behalf of her family, she requested that Ms. Brooks reopen the 1957 case involving the death of her father, Willie Edwards, Jr. Mr. Edwards’ decomposed body . . . → Read More: Justice Still Absent in Bridge Death

On July 10, 1997, the headline above his photograph on the front page of the Montgomery Advertiser read, “Local man to star in feature film.” That is the day fate plucked John Franklin Sawyer from life as a retired U.S. postal service worker and . . . → Read More: Celebrity of film role rests easily on Sawyer’s shoulders

Recent news stories about removing the ban against interracial marriage from the Alabama constitution prompted me to write this column. Alabama has not enforced the ban since 1958 when the U.S. Supreme Court declared Virginia’s ban against interracial marriage unconstitutional in the case of Loving v. Virginia.